Dinwiddie: I Could Be Next Draymond Green
With Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving returning to action next season, Spencer Dinwiddie sees himself in a Draymond Green-style role with the Nets. The combo guard made that comment on ESPN’s The Jump (hat tip to NetsDaily.com).
Mike D’Antoni A Candidate To Join Steve Nash’s Staff?
Former Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni is a candidate to join Steve Nash‘s new coaching staff with the Nets, a source tells Frank Isola of SiriusXM NBA Radio (Twitter link).
D’Antoni and Nash obviously have an extensive history — Nash played for D’Antoni for four years in Phoenix, earning four consecutive All-Star berths and a pair of MVP awards during that time. The veteran point guard later played for D’Antoni again in Los Angeles with the Lakers.
A source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post that D’Antoni and Nash remain “tight.” Berman also refers to D’Antoni as an “X’s and O’s offensive master,” suggesting he’d be a good match for a first-time head coach like Nash, who admitted last month that he was hired more for his relationships and culture-building skills than his tactical acumen.
D’Antoni has been linked to head coaching openings in Indiana and New Orleans and would presumably favor one of those jobs over an assistant position. However, it’s unclear if he’s a finalist for either the Pacers’ or Pelicans’ vacancy.
If he’s willing to accept an assistant role, D’Antoni makes sense as a target for the Nets, given his connection with Nash and the franchise’s deep pockets. Brooklyn made Jacque Vaughn the NBA’s highest-paid assistant, so presumably the team would be amenable to making an aggressive offer for D’Antoni as well.
Isola also mentions Lakers assistant Phil Handy as a possible candidate for Nash’s staff. Handy has previously been identified in multiple reports as a possible target for the Nets.
Dirk Isn't Interested In Joining Nash's Staff
New Nets coach Steve Nash reached out to former teammate Dirk Nowitzki but the Hall of Fame-bound big man has no desire to be an assistant coach at the moment, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News reports. Nowitzki is content to spend time with his family in Dallas. “First of all, I don’t know if I could do it (coach) anywhere but here,” he said. “That’s of course first. Second, I just think the timing is not right. I love being with the family. I’m so over basketball at this point that it wasn’t even a thought for me.”
- Former Suns GM Ryan McDonough doesn’t think Nets stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were trying to undermine Nash when they talked about “collaborative coaching” on Durant’s podcast earlier this month, Ian Begley of SNY.tv relays. Speaking on The Putback, McDonough felt the star Nets duo was speaking more of the team’s leadership. “It wasn’t a critical comment toward Steve Nash like, ‘Hey, he’s not ready for this.’ It was more, ‘We have a lot of player leadership on the roster,’” he said.
Community Shootaround: Eastern Conference Odds For 2020/21
The Heat lost just three games during the first three rounds against their playoff opponents in the East en route to an NBA Finals appearance this year, eliminating three of the top four seeds in the conference in the process. However, Miami’s impressive postseason run hasn’t made the team the favorite to come out of the East in 2021, according to oddsmakers.
At BetOnline.ag, the Heat are listed at +450 to win the Eastern Conference in ’21, meaning you’d win $450 on a $100 wager should Miami repeat as conference champs. The Bucks (+375), Celtics (+425), and Nets (+425) are currently considered more likely to represent the East in next year’s NBA Finals.
The rest of the odds to win the East next year are as follows, per BetOnline.ag:
- Raptors: +750
- Sixers: +1200
- Bulls: +3300
- Hawks: +3300
- Pacers: +3300
- Wizards: +3300
- Magic: +10000
- Cavaliers: +12500
- Knicks: +12500
- Pistons: +12500
- Hornets: +17500
It’s obviously way too early to forecast the outcome of the 2020/21 season with any confidence. The draft and free agency are still to come, and we don’t know yet which teams will make major splashes on the trade market. If Victor Oladipo is dealt from Indiana to another Eastern team, for example, it could significantly change the conference’s outlook for next season.
Still, anticipated roster moves are at least somewhat baked into BetOnline’s current odds — if the Pacers had a ton of cap room to use this offseason and Oladipo and Myles Turner weren’t viewed as potential trade candidates, it’s a safe bet that they wouldn’t be listed alongside lottery teams Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington on the list above.
So, with the caveat that plenty could change in the coming months to alter the outlook of the East for the 2020/21 season, we want to get your thoughts on the early projections from oddsmakers.
Should the Bucks be considered the favorites to win the East? Should the Heat be listed higher than fourth among Eastern teams? Are the Nets or other teams being overvalued? Are the Pacers or other teams being undervalued? Which team do you like to come out of the East next season? And which club do you view as the best value pick based on the odds listed above?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your early forecast for the Eastern Conference in 2020/21!
Eastern Notes: Durant, Nets, Pistons, Rivers
Nets superstar Kevin Durant is hopeful to retire with the organization, though he cautioned it’s only his mindset in the present day, as relayed by the Players’ Tribune Text Message Talk Show with former NBA player Dorell Wright.
“As of today, this second, yes…” Durant texted when asked if Brooklyn would be his final stop.
Durant has previously hinted his willingness to step away from the game around age 35, though these comments were made over two years ago. His current contract with the Nets carries into the next two seasons with a $43.9MM player option for the 2022/23 campaign.
Brooklyn is expected to be at the forefront of title contention next season, sporting a core group of Durant, Kyrie Irving, Caris LeVert and others. The team recently hired Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash as head coach, a decision approved by Durant himself.
“I’m excited about Coach Nash…I think he’s gonna build a fun culture in Brooklyn….having a former player walk the sidelines is always dope to see,” Durant texted.
There’s more out of the Eastern Conference tonight:
- Former Long Island head coach and Nets assistant Will Weaver is picking Brooklyn to come out of the East next year, praising the team’s hiring of Nash and the well-put-together roster, he said on the Wingspan Podcast (as relayed by Chris Milholen of NetsDaily). “How can you not feel like that group is the odds on favorite to win the East next year,” Weaver exclaimed as part of a larger quote. “I think the work that has been going on there for years and the building of equity, processes, and culture will allow someone like Steve [Nash] to step in and inherit a lot of that.”
- Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press examines a number of Pistons-related topics in his latest mailbag, including the pros and cons of a potential Blake Griffin–Buddy Hield trade. Detroit accrued just a 20-46 record on the season, the third-worst in the Eastern Conference and fifth-worst in the league.
- Derek Bodner and Rich Hofmann of The Athletic discuss the Sixers’ hiring of Doc Rivers in their latest Sixers Beat podcast. Rivers has proven he can lead a locker room with star-studded players, previously coaching the likes of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and others. He’s set to inherit a roster featuring Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid next season with Philadelphia.
Durant Plans To Finish Career With Nets
- Kevin Durant can opt out after the third season of his four-year contract with the Nets. However, his current plan is to finish out his career with Brooklyn, Durant indicated in a message on The Player Tribune’s “Text Message Talk Show” (hat tip to Brian Lewis of the New York Post). “As of today, this second, yes…” Durant texted during the show.
Possible Assistant Coaches For Nash
- NetsDaily.com takes a look at the potential assistant coaches who could be joining newly-minted Brooklyn head coach Steve Nash on the sidelines. The team currently has five assistant coaches from interim head coach Jacque Vaughn‘s 2019/20 staff, including Vaughn himself. Hornets lead assistant coach Jay Triano, G League executive Rod Strickland, Lakers assistant Phil Handy, and Thunder assistant Brian Keefe could all be in the mix.
Nets Notes: Coaching Staff, Arena Workers, J. Smith
It has been five weeks since the Nets hired Steve Nash as their new head coach, but there haven’t been many updates since then on who will be part of Nash’s coaching staff beyond Jacque Vaughn, who is expected to remain in Brooklyn as the associate head coach.
According to Alex Schiffer of The Athletic, current Nets assistant Adam Harrington is also likely to be retained, given his connection to Kevin Durant — Harrington briefly served as the Thunder’s shooting coach during Durant’s time in Oklahoma City.
A source tells Schiffer that the Nets had some interest in trying to add former Suns coach Igor Kokoskov as an assistant. However, Kokoskov recently agreed to become the head coach of EuroLeague team Fenerbahce and prefers to remain with his new club in Turkey, per Schiffer.
Schiffer also names Jay Triano, Royal Ivey, and Phil Handy as possible candidates for the Nets’ staff, though Ivey has received interest from multiple teams. As for Handy, Schiffer recently heard from a source that the veteran assistant is happy working on Frank Vogel‘s staff with the Lakers, but would be open to other opportunities.
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Nets owner Joseph Tsai intends to pay his Barclays Center employees – who lost work due to the coronavirus pandemic – through the rest of the year, Brian Lewis of The New York Post confirms. The decision, originally reported by The Atlantic Yards Report, may cost Tsai in the neighborhood of $10MM.
- Maryland power forward Jalen Smith is the No. 20 prospect on ESPN’s big board, which could put him in play for the Nets at No. 19 in this year’s draft. As Lewis relays in a separate story for The New York Post, Smith is intrigued by the idea of being selected by Brooklyn and becoming teammates with a superstar he grew up watching. “Just being able to play with KD, that’s a dream come true,” Smith said. “Obviously growing up watching him so much and pretty much just learning from him, being the same size as him, just being able to get so much from him that he’s done in the league and continue to work and just compete against him would be tremendous and a good thing for me and my skills.”
- In case you missed it, we previewed the Nets’ upcoming offseason in a feature last week.
Examining Nets' Draft Situation, Potential Thinking
- TCU forward Desmond Bane could be the perfect 3-and-D player for the Nets to draft, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. Bane credits current Nets forward Joe Harris for a key part of his game, explaining how he’s studied Harris’ ability to work off screens and make shots off different movements. The Nets have the No. 19 pick in this year’s draft, while Harris is set to reach unrestricted free agency.
- NetsDaily.com examines the Nets‘ draft situation and which player could be selected, suggesting that Bane, Maryland big man Jalen Smith and others could fit nicely with Brooklyn, a team that’s expected to be at the forefront of contention next season. The draft will take place on Wednesday, November 18.
Poll: Best NBA Head Coaching Hire So Far
Despite some speculation earlier this year that financial constraints imposed by the coronavirus pandemic would discourage NBA teams from making head coaching changes, that hasn’t been the case at all over the last few months. A total of nine clubs – nearly a third of the league – have parted ways with coaches so far, and four of those clubs have since hired replacements.
[RELATED: 2020 NBA Head Coaching Search Tracker]
Those four head coaching hires are as follows:
- New York Knicks: Tom Thibodeau (replacing Mike Miller)
- Brooklyn Nets: Steve Nash (replacing Jacque Vaughn)
- Chicago Bulls: Billy Donovan (replacing Jim Boylen)
- Philadelphia 76ers: Doc Rivers (replacing Brett Brown)
Thibodeau’s Bulls squads made the playoffs every year and the Timberwolves went into win-now mode when he arrived, so he didn’t necessarily seem like an obvious fit for the rebuilding Knicks. But his demanding coaching style could help get the most of New York’s young players as the team looks to return to the postseason, and he certainly won’t be intimidated by a large market.
As for the Nets, the expectation was that they’d bring in a veteran coach with a championship résumé to lead a team with title aspirations. Instead, their choice is a first-time head coach only a few years removed from retiring as a player. Nash has a preexisting relationship with Durant and his impressive accomplishments as a player should help earn him the respect of the Nets’ other veterans, but there may be a learning curve as the former two-time MVP adjusts to his first coaching job.
Donovan parted ways with the Thunder in large part because he wasn’t enthused by the idea of a rebuilding or retooling period, so it was a bit of a surprise to see him join a Bulls team coming off consecutive 22-win seasons. But it’s not as if he doesn’t have experience developing young players, having spent two decades coaching the Florida Gators. And if the Bulls take forward strides in the next year or two, Donovan’s playoff coaching experience should come in handy before long.
Finally, the Sixers hired Rivers on Thursday, pivoting to the former Clippers coach after having previously narrowed their field to Mike D’Antoni and Tyronn Lue. For a team trying to get over the hump in the playoffs, Rivers is an interesting choice — he wasn’t able to get over that hump in Los Angeles over the last seven years. And for Rivers, joining another team that features a superstar duo and some chemistry issues is a risk.
Still, despite some disappointing postseason losses, Rivers has consistently led his teams to winning records for more than a decade and he should command the respect of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
What do you think? Which of these four coaching hires do you like the best for these teams, given their respective situations, their goals, and the other options that were available to them?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Which team made the best coaching hire?
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Chicago Bulls (Billy Donovan) 47% (1,092)
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Philadelphia 76ers (Doc Rivers) 26% (612)
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New York Knicks (Tom Thibodeau) 16% (367)
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Brooklyn Nets (Steve Nash) 10% (242)
Total votes: 2,313
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